𝓔𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓷 𝓦𝓲𝓷𝓬𝓱𝓮𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓻|𝓢𝓮𝓪𝓼𝓸𝓷 1

Phantom Traveler

1.

In the motel room, Dean is asleep on the bed on his stomach; Ethan next to him on his back as small snores escaped his mouth. The lock on the door clicked a few times and squeaked open, which caused Dean to open his eyes.

As the door slammed shut Dean reached under his pillow and turned to Sam, who stared at him,unfazed "Morning,sunshine." Dean groaned and pushed the object back under the pillow.

"What time is it?"

Sam looked out the window "Uh, it's about five fourty-five."

"In the morning?" Dean turned back to his pillow as Sam confirmed "Where does the day go?" Dean turned to look at Sam, careful of the small figure next to him "Did you get any sleep last night?"

"Yeah,I grabbed a couple of hours." Sam looked to the floor.

"Liar," Dean got up and threw his legs over the edge of the bed "'Cause I was up at three to take Ethan to the bathroom,and you were watching a George Foreman infomercial."

Sam threw his hands up "Hey,what can I say? It's riveting tv."

"When's the last time you got a good night's sleep?"

"I don't know, a little while, I guess. It's not a big deal."

"Yeah,it is." Dean gave him a look.

Sam laughed through his chuckle "Look, I appreciate your concern-."

"Oh, I'm not concerned about you." Dean said, and stopped Sam's oncoming lecture "It's your job to keep my ass sharp and watch my kid, so I need you sharp." Sam looked to the boy as Dean jabbed a finger at him, then shrugged "Seriously, are you still having nightmares about Jess?"

Sam took a deep breath and crossed the room to sit across from Dean "Yeah,but it's not just her," Sam handed Dean the coffee he was holding "It's everything. I just forgot,you know? This job. Man,it gets to you."

"You can't let it. You can't bring it home like that." Dean took a sip of his coffee before a small whimper had him turned to watch the boy, he reached out and ran a few fingers down his arm. The boy's eyes opened and he looked at Dean "Hey,buggy. You're okay."

"So what?" Sam caught his attention again "All of this it... never keeps you up at night?" Dean shook his head as Ethan climbed into his lap with a Yawn "Never?You're never afraid?"

"No,not really." Sam scoffed before he moved to pull a large knife from under Dean's pillow, then held it up for Dean to see it. Dean sat in silence for a few seconds "That's not fear." He said as he took it back, then moved it away from the toddler to tried to touch it with his pointer finger "That it precaution."

Sam looked down "Alright,whatever. I'm too tired to argue." Sam said as Dean pulled a Scooby-Doo backpack off the floor from beside the bed, just as he placed it down on the bed Dean's phone rang. He stared at it for a second,then shared a look with Sam before he flipped it open and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Dean, it's,uh, it's Jerry Parowski. You and your dad helped me out a couple years back." Dean's face turned to one of familarity as he pulled out an outfit.